Sting operation leads to arrest of former guards on...

1of20The Bexar County Sheriff's Office and Detention Center. Construction is shown in this June 2017 photo. Two former Bexar County Detention Center guards have been arrested on federal charges for their alleged roles in helping bring in drugs into the jail, the San Antonio Express-News confirmed through various courthouse sources.Photo: Kin Man Hui /Staff file photo

5of20Nephew killing: Andira Abdelaziz, 37, was convicted for killing her 25-year-old nephew, with whom she was having an affair with on June 7, 2018. Abdelaziz claimed she was abused by Mohammed Abdelaziz "but that she couldn't bring herself to have him arrested because of the shame it would have caused her extended Palestinian-American family.

6of20Dismemberment trial: The murder trial of Daniel Moreno Lopez, accused of killing 35-year-old Jose Luis Menchaca. Menchaca was allegedly beaten with baseball bats, dismembered and grilled on a barbecue pit in 2014. The killing was allegedly in retaliation for the victim stabbing Lopez in the back two days earlier over a drug deal gone wrong. Photo: Marvin Pfeiffer, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

12of20San Antonio teen beating: A San Antonio 16-year-old who refused an arranged marriage endured six months of beatings at the hands of her parents before running away from her San Antonio home, according to court documents. Her parents, Abdulah Fahmi Kala Al Hishmawi, 34, and Hamdiyah Sabah Al Hishmawi, 33, were arrested on Friday, March 23, 2018.
More: S.A. teen who refused arranged marriage suffered 6 months of beatings, search warrant showsPhoto: Bexar County Jail

13of20Animal sacrifice unveiled at San Antonio home:
Charges against ten of eleven people arrested for animal cruelty in March, involving what one official described as “some sort of unknown ritual” involving dismembered goats and chickens, were later dropped. Officials have not mentioned Santería, but those arrested were reportedly practitioners of that religion. According to court documents, the district attorney's office cited insufficient evidence in dropping the charges.
More: S.A. animal sacrifice was Santería practice, but was it illegal?Photo: /Staff

14of20Uresti conviction: Texas State Sen. Carlos Uresti was convicted on all 11 counts in his five-week criminal fraud trial ending Feb. 22, 2018. Uresti was found guilty of defrauding investors in the now-defunct company FourWinds Logistics, which bought and sold sand used in fracking for oil production before it collapsed in 2015.
More: Uresti, Cain found guilty on all charges in end to salacious month-long fraud trialPhoto: Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

15of20Salacious Uresti testimony: Denise Cantu, a Harlingen woman whom Uresti helped obtain a $2.5 million legal settlement over the deaths of two of her children in a 2010 vehicle wreck, told jurors that the lawmaker became her financial adviser, confidante, friend and eventually lover. She told jurors Feb. 1, 2018, that she and Uresti would have sex in his law office.
More: Uresti’s alleged ex-mistress admits to relationship with his business partnerPhoto: Kin Man Hui, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

16of20Julie Mott trail: A jury awarded Sharlotte and Timothy Mott $8 million on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 after they found Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemeteries negligent in the loss of their daughter’s body. Mott died Aug. 8, 2015 and was to be cremated Aug. 15, 2015. The next day, employees discovered her body missing from a damaged casket.
More: Couple get $8 million for loss of daughter’s body from San Antonio funeral homePhoto: Mark D. Wilson/San Antonio Express-News

17of20Woman held captive in Stone Oak home: What started as a theft investigation quickly became a violent sex assault case. Boshoy Mina Elkhaliny, was arrested on Jan. 8, 2018 for allegedly beating, raping and holding Kaila Kutzik captive for days. The case was later dismissed for a lack of evidence and Elkhaliny was set to be released from county jail without having to pay bail. He still faces a possible charge for aggravated assault with severe bodily injury.
More: 'A classic sociopath’: Abused victims of Stone Oak playboy speak out after years of violence
Photo: Bishoy Elkhaliny

18of20Cop killer trial: Shaun Puente was found guilty on March 21, 2018 for fatally shooting San Antonio Police Department Officer Robert Deckard during a highway chase in Atascosa County on Dec. 8, 2013 that started after Puente, according to witnesses, committed two armed robberies in San Antonio.
More: Death penalty testimony paints violent portrait of officer’s killer
Photo: John Davenport /San Antonio Express-News

19of20Man cleared in River Walk death: A judge issued a ruling Thursday, March 8, 2018, that prevented a manslaughter trial of Mark Daniel Lewis (left), accused of causing transgender woman Kenne McFadden to drown along the River Walk last year. After the judge ruled the evidence was insufficient, the victim’s mother collapsed in the courtroom.
More: Man accused in death of trans woman won’t face trial

20of20Uresti divorce: A week after state Sen. Carlos Uresti’s conviction in a salacious trial that included vivid testimony about him carrying on an extramarital relationship, his wife filed for divorce. Lleanna Uresti cited “adultery” among the reasons for seeking to end the couple’s nearly six-year union, according to the petition filed March 2, 2018.
More: Uresti’s wife files for divorce following salacious trialPhoto: Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News

Two former Bexar County Detention Center guards were arrested Thursday on federal charges, accused of smuggling meth into the jail.

Gabriel Robert Ortiz, 29, and Ruben Hernandez, 26, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges that include conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Ortiz also is charged with three counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute meth, while Hernandez is separately charged with one count of attempted possession.

The smuggling scheme occurred for about a month, between May 4 and June 22, and the arrests were the result of a sting operation, officials said at a news conference headed by U.S. Attorney John Bash; Christopher Combs, FBI special agent in charge in San Antonio; and Sheriff Javier Salazar.

The arrests come as the sheriff’s office has seen a number of incidents involving jail personnel, and came the same day that another probationary jailer, Libmar Rodriguez, 35, was arrested by San Antonio Police on a charge of DWI. He was hired Sept. 11, 2017.

Salazar said at Thursday’s news conference that despite what might appear to the public like a pattern of misconduct, most of the 1,500 deputies he oversees do good work.

“Today, they came to work and did their jobs the way they should — with honor and distinction, just like they do every day,” Salazar said. “We’ve brought in probably over 250 new cadets to the agency since I took over last January (2017). So in the great scheme of things, it’s relatively few (accused of wrongdoing), but I can tell you one is too many.”

Both of the men indicted this week had been hired by the sheriff’s office on July 10, 2017, and were probationary employees when they were fired in late June, the sheriff’s office said.

The two were released on $50,000 unsecured bonds each after an initial appearance in federal court. U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer ordered the pair to avoid contact with each other, and told Ortiz to abstain from drinking alcohol and to undergo random screening, while Hernandez was ordered not to drink too much alcohol as part of his bond restrictions.

The judge appointed them lawyers, and set their arraignments for Aug. 7. The pair dodged reporters’ questions after their release.

Bash, Combs and Salazar released few details about the investigation. The sheriff’s office approached the FBI with the matter, and the agency opened a public corruption investigation that is ongoing, Combs said.

Combs commended Salazar and his administration for referring the case to an FBI-led task force, which is made up of law officers from area agencies.

“Nobody despises a bad cop more than a good cop,” Combs said.

In August 2017, Rita Alvarez, an 11-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was arrested on state charges of engaging in organized crime. Salazar said at the time that she collected the alleged drug debts on behalf of jail inmate Cristobal Perez. The money was then deposited into Perez's commissary fund, possibly by a third party, Salazar said then.

Salazar indicated his office will continue to be vigilant.

“Certainly with every one of these that occurs, you hope that it’s the last one, but you know full well that it probably won’t be,” Salazar said Thursday. “That’s why it’s incumbent upon us, and with my partners in this effort, to hold people accountable, criminally and administratively, each and every time.”

Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 10 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. He has also covered immigration, minority affairs and legal affairs as part of the projects team here and for other print, TV and radio outlets. Guillermo has also worked in Central America, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and California and his work has appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, Denver Post and the Albuquerque Journal.